Portman Holdings names new leaders

Portman Holdings, the development firm founded by Atlanta architect John C. Portman Jr., is restructuring top management and formalizing its board of directors in a move to shore up long-term leadership.

The company said Thursday it has promoted Ambrish Baisiwala to chief executive officer and Richard Jones to chief operating officer. Portman had acted as CEO although he did not carry that title, while the COO position had been empty since last year.

The company, which previously had a four-person investment committee that functioned like a board, has created a board of directors including Portman, his son and five other members including the new officers.

Portman Jr., 85, is chairman of the board.

Baisiwala, 42, previously was executive vice president of development and capital markets. He has experience in development in Australia, United Arab Emirates and his native India.

Jones, also 42, was executive vice president of acquisitions and operations.

Baisiwala was hired in 2006 to expand international development, which was slowed by the financial downturn. In an interview, he said he was picked as CEO in part to continue Portman's growth into emerging markets like the Middle East, India and Asia.

“We were on the verge of pulling the trigger there [overseas], then obviously, the whole downturn hit and we decided to step back from that and take some time to think it through.”

From a real estate perspective, he added, “we will always have up and down cycles. This one may be unusually severe compared to other ones. We’ve spent the last 18 months preparing for the next up cycle.”

Many of Portman’s early buildings still define Atlanta’s downtown skyline. He created a trend when he built one of the first atrium-style hotels, The Hyatt Regency in 1967. The Portman offices are in the Garden Offices at SunTrust Plaza, another signature Portman tower. About 80 of the company’s more than 110 employees work in Atlanta, Baisiwala said.

Portman currently is the master developer of a 50 million square foot, $19 billion mini-city in South Korea, Baisiwala said, where construction has begun, though at a slower pace, on what would become the world’s second tallest building, a 151-story tower.

Baisiwala said Portman "is doing very well,” Baisiwala said. “He still goes into the office six days a week. I’m here only 5 days. He continues to be very passionate about the business and the architecture. He’s very involved from chairman’s position.”